Newsroom

LAW OFFICES OF MICHAEL H.  AGRANOFF

Press Contact:

Lisa M. Malone

Litigation Paralegal

Tel:  (860) 872-1024

Fax:  (860) 871-1015

E-Mail: lisa@agranofflaw.com

 

To schedule a media interview with one of our attorneys, please contact Ms. Malone.

To view our practice in depth, please read the articles on this web site.

The Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) is the state agency charged with child protection.  DCF does a difficult and thankless job, and one that is often dangerous.  However, DCF often overreaches, and has caused harm to many children and many families.

As of February, 2013, we have three lawyers and two paralegals.  We are the only law firm in Connecticut providing full-service DCF defense to private-paying adults on a full-time basis.

Full-service DCF defense encompasses three areas:

Administrative DCF Defense

This includes investigations, home visits, substantiations, registry recommendations, administrative hearings and appeals, foster care license matters, and others.

Court DCF Defense

This includes abuse/neglect petitions, termination of parental rights petitions, and orders of temporary custody.  It may involve representing intervening parties as well as parents.

Related DCF Defense

This includes: minor criminal cases related to the DCF matter; Family Court cases related to the DCF matter; delinquency; emancipation; home schooling issues; school bullying; day care compliance; kids’ welfare; advising the client on related real estate or will/probate matters; and anything else reasonably related to the client’s well-being in a DCF or Juvenile Court case, or a matter that could turn into such a case.

DCF has thousands of employees, hundreds of contactors, and dozens of lawyers.  Its budget is nearly $1 Billion annually, approximately 5% of the State total.  However, DCF has influence over police, schools, public health, mental health, and general child welfare.  We estimate DCF to control, in effect, approximately 10% of the entire State of Connecticut.  Therefore, contending with DCF is a full-time job for dedicated lawyers and paralegals, not a part-time job for lawyers concentrating in other areas.

We have a registered lobbyist in Hartford to help us keep aware of bills and regulations that are proposed, and to help us pass bills and regulations that we deem necessary.

Our lawyers take their job seriously.  We aim to help families, and to get DCF out of their lives, whenever that is possible.

Our paralegals take their job seriously.  They assist the lawyers in a variety of tasks to ease the administrative burden, and enable the lawyers to concentrate on case work full-time.

Our firm motto is simple:

“When DCF calls on you, you should call on us.”

For information about the staff, please See: Meet our Staff.